1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to the field of telecommunications services billing, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for controlling access to telecommunications and messaging services associated with a customer account.
2. Description of the Related Art
The advent of the telephone at the turn of the century presented a new form of communicating to the population at large. Whereas prior communications between individuals occurred either in person or through the mail, the introduction of the telephone into both the household and business cultures changed the way that people work, play, and interact. More urgent matters were treated immediately with a telephone call while less important matters were relegated to the mail.
Initially, the coverage of the telephony-centric network allowed a user to make local calls only, and that with intervention of an operator. Early use was therefore limited. As coverage of the telephony-centric network began to connect major regions of the country together, long distance calling became an option. Yet, this option as well enjoyed only limited use by the population at large, primarily because of the cost involved with making a long distance, or toll, call. When a toll call was made, because the user had to interact with an operator in order to place the call, he/she was aware of the costs involved.
Direct dialing technology took the operator out of the toll calling loop. As a result, the cost for making a toll call was reduced extensively. More and more users began treating long distance telecommunications as the commodity it has become today. As a consequence of increased use, it became vital for prudent household/business money managers to analyze and reconcile each month""s long distance bill. As in any other venture for profit, the management of bottom line costs is effected by careful scrutiny of the details. Early long distance bills were not difficult to analyze because 1) there was only one long distance vendor; and 2) most businesses and households only had one telephone line.
Two parallel progressions over the past 20 year have simply revolutionized personal and business telecommunications practices. The first progression was the introduction of competition into the telecommunications marketplace. Today, literally hundreds of telecommunications companies advertise over the full gamut of telecommunications services. In any given area of the United States, a user can choose from at least 25 long distance service providers. Competition has resulted in the dramatically low cost of long distance that is seen today. Long distance calls are now billed by the minute, and cost less than 10 cents per minute.
The proliferation of computer technologies in both the telecommunications industry and by telecommunications subscribers is the second progression in recent history to transform personal and business practice. Facsimile machines, pagers, multi-line telephone systems, voice mail, cellular telephones, and computer networking over the internet are now ubiquitously employed in average households and businesses. It is not uncommon today to find, numerous telephone lines in a given home, some for personal use, some for business use, each replete with a cornucopia of features provided by numerous telecommunications service companies.
But while competition and technological advances have made telecommunications services more accessible and affordable, both of these two progressions have exponentially exacerbated the money management problem. In the 1980""s, as these two progressions were still in their early stages, the average subscriber would receive a separate bill from each provider for each line every month. All of the providers, because they were part of the overall telecommunications network, communicated with local telephony-centric network interface equipment each time a call was placed. Details of the call, or transaction, would be recorded so that an itemized bill would result at the end of the billing period. Consequently, a subscriber having two lines, one with Long Distance Company A and the other with Long Distance Company B, would receive a bill each month from each of the companies.
Service providers over the next few years took the initiative to negotiate shared billing agreements with local telephone companies to reduce the burden on the consumer. Today, a subscriber receives one monthly bill for telecommunications services. This consolidated bill presents all charges for lines within the subscriber""s household/business and additionally itemizes each charge. Consolidated billing techniques allow a present day money manager to more easily analyze and reconcile telecommunications costs-that is, ex post facto. This is because a consolidated bill typically itemizes charges for telecommunications services that have occurred over the previous 30 days.
Because telecommunications assets and services can be easily accessed, they also can be easily abused. For instance, newspapers routinely contain reports about some business or family that received a horrendously large phone bill as a result of an abuse such as a pirated calling card or excessive access of a 900 number. Accordingly, prudent money managers are now demanding up-to-date information as well as detailed information in order to better control costs and to precipitate abusive use patterns.
The problem of cost control cuts both ways: it is advantageous for a user to stay up to date regarding activity pertaining to his account. However, cost control is also a great concern to service providers. Unfortunately, overcharging, overuse, and payment default by some customers are manifestations of the same issue as seen from the service provider perspective. And because services providers also incur out of pocket costs due to any of the service abuses listed above, it is also incumbent upon a prudent billing manager for a service provider to stay on top account activity to detect and control overcharges by negligent users or direct criminal abuse.
Many telecommunications service providers today allow a user or billing manager to access account information over the internet via a web browser, yet the information that is provided online is at a summary level only (i.e., total charges) and is furthermore merely a reflection of costs that were provided in a previous consolidated bill. In summary, present day online telecommunications billing and cost control systems provide no meaningful benefits to a user other than presenting an unpretentious reminder to pay an outstanding balance or that abuses have already transpired.
Therefore, what is needed is an apparatus that allows a service provider to monitor up-to-date telecommunications charges for a consolidated account via a web browser.
In addition, what is needed is an apparatus whereby a service provider can set a credit limit for charges to a particular telecommunications and messaging services account via a web browser and automatically terminate access to specified services once the credit limit has been exceeded.
Furthermore, what is needed is an online access control mechanism that allows a service provider to automatically alert a customer that a prescribed account event, such as unusual calling activity, has recently been detected on the customer""s account.
Moreover, what is needed is a method for prescribing account events and corresponding control responses for a telecommunications and messaging services account from a server computer over the internet.
To address the above-detailed deficiencies, it is a feature of the present invention to provide an mechanism in a telecommunications and messaging services system that allows a service provider to control up-to-date telecommunications charges for a consolidated account via a web browser.
Accordingly, in the attainment of the aforementioned feature, the present invention provides an apparatus for controlling access to a telecommunications and messaging services system. The apparatus includes a billing server and a web server. The billing server maintains telecommunication transaction records and periodically queries the telecommunication transaction records to detect an account event. The web server is coupled to the billing server. The web server sends telecommunication transaction information to the billing server, it prescribes the account event in response to a command via a thin web client interface, and, upon detection of the account event, it controls access to the telecommunications and messaging services system for a corresponding account.
A benefit of the present invention is that a billing manager can monitor account details online that are needed to properly control out of pocket expenses for a service provider.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a charge control mechanism for a telecommunications service provider. The charge control mechanism has a billing server and a web server. The billing server maintains transaction records and controls access to telecommunications and messaging services corresponding to an account. The billing server includes data base logic and an event monitor. The data base logic stores the transaction records, where the transaction records specify transaction details and charges corresponding to the account. The event monitor is coupled to the data base logic. The event monitor schedules periodic queries of the transaction records to detect an account event, and, upon detection of the account event, the event monitor initiates a response. The web server is coupled to the billing server. The web server receives commands over a data-centric network prescribing the account event and the response. The commands are entered by a service provider via a web browser.
Another benefit of the present invention is that a service provider does not have to wait for a monthly accounting report to arrive in order to take actions to correct abuses of a telecommunications account.
In a further aspect, the present invention provides an apparatus for monitoring and controlling access to telecommunications and messaging services over the internet from a server computer that is executing a web browser application. The apparatus includes a web server, an event/alert buffer, a query tasker, and an access controller. The web server receives commands from the server computer prescribing an account event and corresponding response. The event/alert buffer is coupled to the web server and maintains parameters that describe the account event and the corresponding response. The query tasker is coupled to the event alert/buffer. The query tasker generates periodic query requests to search a telecommunications transaction data base to detect the account event and initiates a request to execute the corresponding response. The access controller is coupled to the query tasker. The access controller receives the request and executes the corresponding response, thereby controlling access to telecommunications and messaging services associated with a user account.
A further benefit of the present invention is that a billing manager does not require special software applications to control telecommunication charges over the internet associated with a customer account.
In yet another aspect, the present invention provides a method for controlling access to telecommunications and messaging services over the internet from a server computer that is executing a web browser application. The method includes maintaining telecommunications billing records in a data base, the telecommunications billing records documenting individual telecommunication events and associated charges; prescribing an account event and response from the server computer and transmitting the account event and response to a billing computer over the internet; querying the data base in to detect the account event; and, upon detection of the account event, initiating the response.
Yet another benefit of the present invention is that out of pocket losses resulting from negligent payment or system abuses can be automatically contained.